Today's word is a song title
我が良き友よ Waga yoki Tomo yo
My good friend (note this is old Japanese)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Today's Word
アメコミ amekomi
American (super hero) comics
The Japanese name for comics 漫画 manga (漫 funny + picture 画) has become an international word, but we still use a foreign word to refer to foreign things.
アメコミ amekomi is short for American Comic アメリカンコミックス(amerikankomikkusu)
Japan is sometimes very conscious of the split between occidental and oriental.
We say 邦画 houga for Japanese and east Asian films, and 洋語 youga for western/European films.
Although many Japanese children grow up with a view of the world that it is made of two countries 日本 Japan and 外国 foreign land(s), we are actually very sensitive about where things come from.
American (super hero) comics
The Japanese name for comics 漫画 manga (漫 funny + picture 画) has become an international word, but we still use a foreign word to refer to foreign things.
アメコミ amekomi is short for American Comic アメリカンコミックス(amerikankomikkusu)
Japan is sometimes very conscious of the split between occidental and oriental.
We say 邦画 houga for Japanese and east Asian films, and 洋語 youga for western/European films.
Although many Japanese children grow up with a view of the world that it is made of two countries 日本 Japan and 外国 foreign land(s), we are actually very sensitive about where things come from.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Let's Learn to Pronounce Japanese Sounds
Japanese is very easy to pronounce, much easier than say English. It is based on a very limited collection of immutable syllables which we call 五十音 gozyuuon The Fifty Sounds.
Although there are actually less than fifty base sounds in Japanese, they are arranged into a grid of 5 pure vowels and 10 consonants some of which can be slightly augmented.
The five vowels of Japanese are あいうえお a i u e o, and that is their "alphabetic" order.
あ a sounds likes the a in father
い i sounds like the ee in feet
う u sounds like the oo in zoo
え e sounds like the e in bet
お o sounds like the o in solo
the vowel sounds stay the same no matter which consonant you pronounce them after
か ka さ sa た ta な na は ha ま ma や ya ら ra わ wa
All Japanese sounds are pronounced one syllable, one beat, ending in a vowel
(bonus, this is why Japanese poetry is syllable based 5,7,5 and not stressed or "rhyming")
There is one exception that comes at the end of our syllabary ん nn is pronounced like a mix between English m and n, and never begins a word.
There are some other consonants that might be confusing to foreigners. かきくけこ ka ki ku ke ko is very simple, but
さしすせそ sa si su se so
し si is pronounced like the English word "she" with an sh sound
たちつてと ta ti tu te to
ち ti is pronounced similar to an English "ch" sound rather than "t" = chi
つ tu is pronounced "tsu"
つ is an important letter because if you write it small っ it becomes a symbol meaning "guttural stop." In roman letters this is represented by repeating the consonant it precedes.
Let's practice!
きて kite (ki te = kee tay) means come (please)
きって kitte (ki guttural stop te) means a stamp, or it could mean "please cut"
きいて kiite (ki i te) means listen (please), be sure to pronounce every syllable for one beat
はひふへお ha hi hu he ho
ふ hu sounds similar to an English F, but you don't bite the bottom lip "fu"
There are two other tricks to pronouncing Japanese
゛ dakuten and ゜ handakuten
AND
ゃ ゅ ょ a few more little letters, ya yu and yo
゛ dakuten are too little marks you can put on a letter that mean "pronounce this sound deep in the throat"
it turns
か ka into が ga
さ sa into ざ za
た ta into だ da
は ha into ば ba
Note: the Japanese sound じ zi like the Japanese sound し si sound different to English ears
we already learnt that "si" sounds like "shi"
but "zi" sounds like "ji"
゜handakuten (half deep throat sound mark) only goes on ハ行 hagyou the H row
はひふへほ hahihuheho
ばびぶべぼ babibubebo
ぱぴぷぺぽ papipupepo
And the last thing you have to know is!
You can write や ya ゆ yu よ yo small after a consonant in the い段 i dan I row, and make a new sound
So き ki becomes きゃ kya し si (shi) becomes しゃ sya (sha) and so forth
you can use it if the letter has dakuten or handakuten as well ぴょん pyon
It is important to know that Kya is one syllable, not Ki A.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goj%C5%ABon Wikipedia
はつおんの れんしゅうを がんばって ください
hatuonno rensyuuwo ganbatte kudasai
Please work hard your pronunciation practice!
Although there are actually less than fifty base sounds in Japanese, they are arranged into a grid of 5 pure vowels and 10 consonants some of which can be slightly augmented.
The five vowels of Japanese are あいうえお a i u e o, and that is their "alphabetic" order.
あ a sounds likes the a in father
い i sounds like the ee in feet
う u sounds like the oo in zoo
え e sounds like the e in bet
お o sounds like the o in solo
the vowel sounds stay the same no matter which consonant you pronounce them after
か ka さ sa た ta な na は ha ま ma や ya ら ra わ wa
All Japanese sounds are pronounced one syllable, one beat, ending in a vowel
(bonus, this is why Japanese poetry is syllable based 5,7,5 and not stressed or "rhyming")
There is one exception that comes at the end of our syllabary ん nn is pronounced like a mix between English m and n, and never begins a word.
There are some other consonants that might be confusing to foreigners. かきくけこ ka ki ku ke ko is very simple, but
さしすせそ sa si su se so
し si is pronounced like the English word "she" with an sh sound
たちつてと ta ti tu te to
ち ti is pronounced similar to an English "ch" sound rather than "t" = chi
つ tu is pronounced "tsu"
つ is an important letter because if you write it small っ it becomes a symbol meaning "guttural stop." In roman letters this is represented by repeating the consonant it precedes.
Let's practice!
きて kite (ki te = kee tay) means come (please)
きって kitte (ki guttural stop te) means a stamp, or it could mean "please cut"
きいて kiite (ki i te) means listen (please), be sure to pronounce every syllable for one beat
はひふへお ha hi hu he ho
ふ hu sounds similar to an English F, but you don't bite the bottom lip "fu"
There are two other tricks to pronouncing Japanese
゛ dakuten and ゜ handakuten
AND
ゃ ゅ ょ a few more little letters, ya yu and yo
゛ dakuten are too little marks you can put on a letter that mean "pronounce this sound deep in the throat"
it turns
か ka into が ga
さ sa into ざ za
た ta into だ da
は ha into ば ba
Note: the Japanese sound じ zi like the Japanese sound し si sound different to English ears
we already learnt that "si" sounds like "shi"
but "zi" sounds like "ji"
゜handakuten (half deep throat sound mark) only goes on ハ行 hagyou the H row
はひふへほ hahihuheho
ばびぶべぼ babibubebo
ぱぴぷぺぽ papipupepo
And the last thing you have to know is!
You can write や ya ゆ yu よ yo small after a consonant in the い段 i dan I row, and make a new sound
So き ki becomes きゃ kya し si (shi) becomes しゃ sya (sha) and so forth
you can use it if the letter has dakuten or handakuten as well ぴょん pyon
It is important to know that Kya is one syllable, not Ki A.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goj%C5%ABon Wikipedia
はつおんの れんしゅうを がんばって ください
hatuonno rensyuuwo ganbatte kudasai
Please work hard your pronunciation practice!
Today's Word
Monday, July 25, 2011
Today's Word
七面鳥 Sitimentyou
Turkey
クリスマスの食卓をゴージャスに彩る七面鳥の丸焼き
A gorgeous whole roast turkey beaming from the Christmas table
Turkey
クリスマスの食卓をゴージャスに彩る七面鳥の丸焼き
A gorgeous whole roast turkey beaming from the Christmas table
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